Michael Leach is a Professor in Politics and International Relations, and Chair of the Department of Education and Social Sciences at Swinburne University of Technology, Australia.

He teaches in Comparative Politics, and the Politics of the Pacific. His research interests include nation-building in the Asia-Pacific, the politics of Timor-Leste, the Politics of Melanesian & Pacific nations, and comparative immigration and asylum policy.

Michael is also an Australian legal practitioner, and officer of the Supreme Court of Victoria. He has previously taught in politics at Deakin University, at the University of Queensland, and South Thames College in London.